FALL-FILLED

She once had a smile that could make the rainbow seem dull

She once had promise for her premise, beyond cuddling dolls

Her steps guided to virtues and values by a mother’s affection

A father always on her shoulders trimming her to perfection

She could be anything; all she needed to do was take a pick

Sinsom had a dream of becoming a nurse to care for the sick

At age eight, red or blue dress was not even hers to decide

But along came an innocent lump growing on mummy’s side

What she thought could not have been more than a bug’s bite

Alas was breast cancer; a woman’s curse and humanity’s fight

Early detection was a long shot from Demsa village of Adamawa

Death invaded the dreams of a girl and drove it down the sewer

This poor little Mbula girl had nobody left except for half a father

Who also shortly drank himself to death mourning her late mother

From an uncle to another Sinsom was tossed around like Ping

Pong

She would have their love and sympathy but it never lasts for
long

After few years of decorating hell, they gave her away for
marriage

She was marrying a thirty year old at eleven, she needed courage

He paid in full; his loins needed filling and so her age did not
matter
Bakuli! She cried for God to come to her rescue as he thrust
harder

There was no going back now that she is broken in spirit and body

The village nurse said she was pregnant and they called it a
miracle

Beholding a child carrying her own child was indeed nature’s

ridicule

The baby had little choice but to be feeding from imaginary

breasts

The child’s wailings and the demands of his father leave her no
rest

She thought the bleeding was only but a prolonged menstruation

But it flowed and never stopped until she needed blood infusion

At almost fourteen she lay in a sick bed diagnosed of cervical

cancer

With watery eyes and a heart full of questions with no one to

answer

She looks up to her daughter and wonders if she may have

dreams fulfilled

Or like her mother and grandmother; would wither fast away and
fall filled